1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to chairs and more particularly to reclining chairs.
2. Prior Art
In the prior art there exists several different types of reclining chairs. All of these reclining chairs essentially perform the same basic function, that is the function of reclining; however, these prior art reclining chairs all have certain deficiencies.
In particular, when the chairs recline, the feet of the person seated in the chair generally rises off of the floor as the front portion of the chair rises. Such a condition is particularly undesirable in reclining chairs utilized in offices. Next, when the chair is reclined or returned to the upright position, the backrest may move up or down relative to the seat of the chair. Such a motion has the undesirable side effect of pulling out one's shirt or blouse or scrunching up one's clothes. In either event, the feeling is unpleasant and results in a disheveled appearance for the person seated in the chair when he returns to the unreclined position. In addition, the reclining mechanism is usually provided with a spring which can be adjusted to provide a preloaded biasing force against the reclining motion of the chair so that the chair does not just fall backwards; however, the spring merely provides this preload and does not compensate for the increased forces caused by the change in leverage as the chair reclines and the differences in weights of individuals seated in the chair. As a result, chairs which are designed for people who are heavy, cannot be utilized by people who are light in weight and vice versa.
Examples of prior art reclining chairs which possess one or more of the above disadvantages and which may have attempted to solve some of the above described disadvantages are described in the issued United States patents as follows:
______________________________________ 910,357 2,479,175 2,611,420 2,925,122 3,856,346 4,372,608 4,386,805 4,402,546 4,529,247 ______________________________________